


Out from Under

by SolarisRasa



Series: Malec Request [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Hurt Alec Lightwood, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Not actually hate on Clary, Request Fill, actions have consequences, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:35:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25685146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarisRasa/pseuds/SolarisRasa
Summary: Runes didn’t burn forever and Alec was being overcautious. Clary huffed. This was ridiculous. Unnecessary. She rolled her shoulders, drawing her kinjals and marching forward determinedly.In which Clary ignores the plan and people get hurt.
Relationships: Clary Fray & Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Malec Request [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821445
Comments: 17
Kudos: 368





	Out from Under

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kattoo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattoo/gifts).



> These are taking longer than I meant, whoops. 
> 
> Anyway, I snuck a bit of world-building in here. The Nephilim take "Under the watch of the Angels" a little...seriously.

Clary blew a loose curl out of her face. Izzy was right, she needed to spend more time putting her hair up for this stuff. A few steps to her left Jace spun his blade in a smooth arc, impatient but focused.

She rolled her eyes, even as he and Izzy moved in, little more than shadows with the exception of their weapons and Jace’s bright hair. Alec  _ insisted  _ they needed to go slow and careful into this. Clary loved Alec but sometimes his tendency to overthink was a real pain in the ass.

Sure, the demons they were heading for were not as brain dead as the average Shax but they weren’t geniuses either and intel said there wouldn’t be more than one possible summoner. The five of them could more than handle it and going about this in stealth mode was wasting their time.

She glanced up to where Alec was slowly moving along a catwalk that ringed the inside of the factory they were carefully working through. His dark form was only revealed to her by the slightest play of light on his bow and months of working with him watching their backs. He had been very clear on how they were going to do this and had rejected her suggestion of just, sending someone to draw the enemy out.

That had been nearly forty minutes ago and the glacial pace the mission was moving at wasn’t helping anyone. Runes didn’t burn forever and Alec was being overcautious. Clary huffed. This was ridiculous. Unnecessary. She rolled her shoulders, drawing her kinjals and marching forward determinedly.

“ _ Fairchild!”  _ She heard Hawkthorn hiss as she marched past her. She disregarded her attempted warning. Hawkthorn was competent but it was unusual the Lightwoods plus her needed a fifth, Hawthorn just didn’t know how they did things yet. Alec would gripe at her when it was over, but they’d be fine after some heated glaring.

She marched right into the most open section of the factory floor and lit her witchlight, throwing white light in a wide radius. Immediately there was clamoring on the second floor and growls sounded from her left.

“Come on!” She called, taking a ready stance.

The first demon circled her until another joined and she could hear the others engaging where they were spread around her. Perfect, they’d be able to clean up and regroup pretty quick. The pair of demons jumped at her and the ring of her blades covered the sound of Alec’s pained shout and Hawkthorn’s cry for help.

-

Magnus leaned casually against one of the many desks scattered in the Ops center, hip comfortably pressed to pristine white. Underhill was talking to him, regaling him with a play-by-play of Alec’s last meeting with some council members who had decided to “drop by” and see how the New York institute was running. Underhill was a consummate professional but the little grin playing at his lips revealed that he had enjoyed watching Alec dress the assholes down as much as Magnus enjoyed hearing about it.

He was just repeating a particular choice line when his face fell and he leaned forward, gaze glued to a monitor. Magnus, faced the wrong way to see, tipped his head at an awkward angle. The screen showed the camera’s around the Institute and on them Alec and his team coming to the door. Magnus felt a soft warmth at the sight of his boyfriend but it was overridden with concern when he realized Jace was carrying a body over his shoulder and Isabelle was leaning heavily on Alec.

“Andrew-”

“I don’t know Magnus. Alec led this one, they had the manpower. Something must have changed.” 

Magnus pushed away from the desk, already moving forward when the door was shoved open. Jace, Isabelle, and the unconscious (Magnus could see her breathing, thank Lilith) Hawkthorn headed straight for the infirmary. Isabelle with unsteady steps and a concerning vacant look.

“Alexa-”

His boyfriend’s expression was tight, darkness in his eyes as he dropped his bow on the table Magnus had come to a halt beside. 

“If we’d just called them out  _ faster  _ we’d have all been together Alec! You didn’t listen to me and we waited too long-” Clary was covered in ichor like the rest of them but seemed to have enough energy left to rag on Alec. Magnus frowned, he hated it when Biscuit decided that she was right and above chain of command. The habit had been slowly changing, too slowly by his account.

“-If you didn’t  _ insist-”  _ The tension in Alec’s body snapped and he went from leaning on the table, jaw clenched, to whirling on Clary. Magnus felt his own body tense in response to Alec’s hostility. He could see, in profile, rage unlike anything Alec had ever shown on his boyfriend’s face.

He reached out, ready to try and soften whatever blow Alexander was about to deal. Alec smacked his hand away and Magnus swallowed. When he spoke his voice was fire, scraped raw on its way up his throat and blasted out at a volume that brought the room to a standstill.

“You, Clarissa Fairchild, disobeyed my  _ direct  _ command in the field. You arrogant,  _ overconfident  _ little-no! Not little girl, even a child can listen when it matters. You put all of us in danger. You decided that you knew better than your leader, again, and you chose to throw all of us to those demons because you thought your idea was better. Nevermind that it was too late to change the plan, nevermind that we had no idea the numbers we were up against or that the summoner was a warlock. No. You had to be  _ right.” _

Magnus was frozen, Alec was leaning forward, lips curled into a sneer as his loud but firm words shifted into true shouting, “You almost got Hawkthorn  _ killed.  _ Jace could’ve lost his sight! Izzy is only on her feet because I was fast enough to knock her out of the way! You ignore everything you’ve learned from us and you betray us in the field and you expect me to listen to you? Now or ever again? You are  _ not  _ one of mine Clarissa. Not now.”

The silence that followed was stunning. Clary’s eyes were huge and her face white. For Alec to denounce her was to indicate a removal of his shelter, both metaphorically and literally and even Magnus, outside of Nephilim culture, knew it was bad. Alec was fiercely loyal and a true protector and Clary had been under his careful eyes since the first day she’d stumbled into Jace, no matter how begrudging his watch had started. As the Head of the Institute, removal of his personal protection would mandate she be moved to a different posting, separated from New York and everything she knew.

“Get out of my sight.” Alec’s voice was flat, his eyes flashing as Clary tried to say his name, her big eyes wet with tears and her small frame shaking. Magnus knew Alec wouldn’t touch her but his eyes promised pain just the same.

“Alexander.” Magnus stepped into his boyfriend’s space, finally, “I don’t thi-”

“Are you going to question me too, Magnus?” Alec whispered, eyes finally tearing away from where Clary had been, dropping to his feet as his chin dipped.

Magnus swallowed, because that was at the heart of this. If those closest to him didn’t respect his lead, if Clary continued to push as she had over, and over, what did it say about Alec? He was a great leader, Magnus knew he would do amazing things, but when those you trusted most refused to show they trusted you too it cut the legs out from under you. He dropped the line of thought.

“Are you alright?”

Alec sighed, gaze roaming around the room with a glare that pushed everyone to get back to work, “I’m fine. Just-I-”

His glare was going a bit glassy. 

“Alec!” Jace, bandage wrapped around his head and obscuring an eye and with an iratze burning visibly on his forearm, called out as he appeared.

Magnus’ head whipped from Alec to his parabatai and back in time to see Alec’s eyes flutter, rolling as he went limp, strings cut.

“Alexander!” Magnus caught him, going down on his knees hard and wincing as he did. Alec’s head lolled against his shoulder and he didn’t respond. His skin was burning and Magnus swore as Jace reached them, pulling his shirt open, stele at the ready.

Black veins spread over his hips and shoulders, the pulse of them indicating a poisoned wound in his back. Worse though was the way his stomach was curved out. 

“He’s bleeding inside! Medic!” Jace shouted, already drawing a new Iratze and activating Alec’s endurance rune. 

Magnus hissed, blue power curling from his fingers and dipping inside of Alexander, searching for the source of his internal bleeding. It was difficult, even with magic, to repair what you could not physically see and he was forced to cut his search short as two of the medical staff rushed to take Alec. He followed them closely, sparks snapping at his fingers, Jace beside him, wincing with every step.

They didn’t lay Alec down immediately, holding him in a sitting position. Magnus was grateful for the extra hands as Alec remained limp, head lolling forward and arms dropping every time they tried to shift him. He sucked in a breath as he got a look at the wound in his back.

A perfect round puncture mark just under his rib cage, black and devoid of blood with more black spreading over his whole back from it. An epicenter of poison and pain.

Magnus took a deep breath, trusting the Iratze to keep him safe from his other wounds for long enough to fix this one. Jace, swaying slightly, stood determinedly beside him. Magnus would make him rest, but not yet. 

He knew better than anyone else how it felt to  _ need  _ to make Alec safe. His magic leapt to his command, already desperate to help the shadowhunter it had claimed as theirs.

-

In the middle of the day the Institute is at its quietest. In the stillness Clary ghosts in, her red hair the only spot of color or life she seems to carry as she slowly approaches. She’s not wearing any makeup and Magnus is pretty sure the tattered sweater she’s wearing is one of Alec’s. 

She stops several feet from the bed where his heart lays, her gaze flickering between Alec’s still face and Magnus’ tired eyes.

“Can-Is he-” She swallows and Magnus feels himself softening toward this reckless, determined girl, “Is he going to be alright?”

Magnus, though it tears him in half to do it, silently stands from the chair he is too familiar with and walks past Clary, tilting his head at her to follow. She does and they end up in the empty hallway that leads to Ops.

“He’s stable. They’re all going to be alright, exhausted and hurting, but alright.”

Clary breathes out a sigh of relief, a little life sparking in her eyes.

“You cannot do this again.” Magnus says, soft and earnest and she startles.

“It’s not like I’m going to have the opportunity. Alec is going to send me away, you know he is, he revoked his protection from me.  _ Magnus,  _ he’s going to take my home and it’s all my fault.” There are tears welling in her eyes.

“It is your fault, yes, but give him some time Biscuit. Alexander cares about you and yesterday was bad. He was probably just as worried about you as he was angry, declarations made with those kind of emotions driving them need to be re-evaluated with a calmer head. Alec knows that and I will help him ensure that his pride doesn’t get in the way of it.”

Clary bit her lip, nodding, “Thank you Magnus, Thank you.”

He held up a hand, keeping his voice soft but firm, “I am not promising anything. He may still ask you to leave for some time. You have always pushed, not taking no for an answer. That stubbornness has been a blessing at times but, you were too blinded by it yesterday and you hurt Alec in more than one way.”

Clary frowns, not seeing what has been too clear to Magnus since he first met Alexander and his wayward shadowhunters.

“You did not trust him to lead you. Jace, Isabelle, you, all of you ignore his decisions and his direction whenever you think you’ve got a better plan and when it goes wrong you always, always lay the blame at his feet. I had hoped, after Lydia, that maybe there would be some change. Isabelle is doing better, Jace is less harsh with him, but you still don’t see it. This time people got hurt but all the times before? When you did what you thought was best? Alec has suffered for every one. The Clave wants an excuse to remove him, he is strong enough to handle them, but everytime someone he trusts flaunts his authority without real reason? You take a little more respect from him.”

Magnus felt as tired as he sounded. Lilith, but he was tired of teaching children who should know better how to treat other people, how to treat his Alexander. He doesn’t give Clary time to respond, with her big eyes wet and her hands pressed tight together under the too long sleeves of Alec’s sweater.

“Jace should be up and around this afternoon.”

He turned away, Alec needed him back.

Sure enough his shadowhunter is waking up when he returns, Clary has enough sense not to follow. 

Alec’s hazel eyes took a long moment to focus and Magnus tooks his hand with all the care something so precious deserved, watching as Alec found him.

“Magnus.”

“There you are Alexander.” He leaned to press his lips to Alec’s forehead, a quick brush all too aware of where they are. Alec smiled a little and Magnus was quick to use his magic and his own two hands to help Alec sit up comfortably, summoning water for him. He waited until Alec was finished, tensing and flexing his arms in a clear test, and handed him the tray with his stele on it.

Alec nodded, taking the device and slowly tracing his Iratze. He sighed and closed his eyes when it seemed to work.

“Thank you Magnus.”

“Of course darling. How are you feeling?”

“Like I was trampled by a demon. How’re the others?”

Magnus rolled his eyes, trust Alec not to focus on himself, “They’re fine. Resting mostly. Hawkthorn should be up in a couple days, Jace and Izzy are set to be cleared this afternoon.”

Alec swallowed, “Clary?”

Magnus sighed, “She’s unharmed. She is-she’s feeling the weight of this and I believe she’s waiting for a verdict.”

Alec’s face tightened and he nodded a little, “I’m not going to do what I threatened. She’s still one of Mine, I was just…” He groaned but Magnus squeezed his hand to show he knew, he already knew, “I can’t let her off though. She has to learn.” 

“Let me do it.” Jace’s voice was raspy as he pulled the divider between their beds back, making Magnus blink.

“Sorry, I know, private conversation and all.” Jace winked and Magnus smiled, “Seriously, Alec, you’re not going to be fit for duty for a bit man. I’m second in command, I’ll take care of it.”

Alec’s eyes opened a crack but Jace’s honest expression settled his protest before it truly formed.

“Wrangle Island can always use some temporary help.”

Alec choked out a laugh, “You’d send her up there?”

Jace shrugged, “Not for too long. Few weeks. Give her time to think, to realize how amazing of a leader you are here, how awful the work really can be.”

Alec opened his eyes properly, noting how serious Jace sounded, “Yeah?”

“Look, we’re still fuck ups sometimes but you don’t deserve the way we’ve treated you and Clary  _ really  _ messed up yesterday. Anyone else would already be waiting for their portal to a long term stay on Wrangle. She’s not the new, clueless, barely not-a-mundie girl anymore. I love her, I do, but even I’ve learned.”

“Angel knows how, with how hard-headed you are.”

Magnus smiled, “Don’t hold it against him Alexander, he needs it to handle you.”

Jace grinned wide and Alec closed his eyes again.

“Don’t gang up on me, I’m injured!”

Magnus patted his hand and Jace laughed. It was quiet between them, Magnus stroked Alec’s fingers lightly, watching him rest.

“Alec?” Jace’s voice was soft.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you, for not refusing her. I don’t know how-if you’d sent her from your Sight-I…”

Alec reached his free hand blindly toward Jace, waiting until his parabatai took it, “I was angry and worried, Jace. I shouldn’t have said it. I’ll never send any of you from my Sight. You’re all Mine, you, Izzy, Clary, Magnus, Max. Angel, even Simon can’t shake me anymore.”

Magnus blinked at his inclusion and blinked rapidly as hot warmth curled in his chest. Leave it to Alec to claim him and not tell him. Alexander squeezed Jace’s hand once and let go. He curled up a little more on his bed, the hand under Magnus’ fingers catching and tugging. Magnus fondly patted him, snapping his fingers and making enough room so he could curl up beside Alec.

Jace rolled his eyes at them, “Yeah, yeah. You two cuddle and be lazy. I’ll go do the job.”

Alec lazily flipped him off, eyes staying resolutely shut and Magnus pressed a smile into his shoulder, careful to touch him gently.

“Get some rest you asshole.”

Magnus closed his eyes, breathing in Alec as his boyfriend relaxed against him.

“Clary’s going to hate the work but I bet she’ll have some beautiful paintings when she gets back.”

Magnus chuckled, “A series done out of spite?”

Alec sighed, caught one of Magnus’ hands and brought it too his lips, “She’ll probably title one of them something annoying. An iceberg painting called “A dish best served cold” or something.”

“Jokes Alexander?”

“I’ve got ‘em sometimes.”

Magnus hummed, settled in further, “You definitely need to rest more darling.”

“Mhmm.”


End file.
